Later today, the executive committee of the South Carolina Democratic Party will consider the protest filed by Vic Rawl, who lost to Alvin Greene in the Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate.
Rawl claims reports of “extremely unusual incidents” place “a cloud over Tuesday’s election.”
The State Election Commission says baloney:
… [W]e want voters to know that we are confident in the integrity of our state’s voting system and that security of South Carolina’s voting process has always been - and will always be - a primary focus of the State Election Commission. Our state has a proud history of safe, secure and accurate elections and South Carolinians can be assured and confident in the system’s ability to perform in the Runoff as it has thousands of times before - accurately and reliably.
Circa 2003, I was among the first to sound the alarm about the perils of paperless voting machines. But I think allegations of widespread voting irregularities are unfounded.
The problem in South Carolina was not computer glitches. It was human error.
Still, I agree with my colleagues at the Verified Voting Foundation that South Carolina’s embarrassment is a teachable moment:
Meanwhile, meet the Al Green who has my vote.Whether specific reports of irregularities in this election are confirmed, the most important fact about South Carolina’s voting system is that most ballots cannot be effectively audited or recounted. Serious concerns about the integrity of the primary (and of other elections conducted using the same technology) are inevitable, and legitimate (italics in original).
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Whatever the outcome, we strongly urge citizens and policymakers in the state and in the nation at large to use this moment to insist on their right to voting systems that demonstrate trustworthiness rather than demand trust. Congressman Rush Holt’s and Senator Bill Nelson’s Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act would require that all Federal elections employ a system of paper ballots marked by the voter, with random hand-counted audits to check electronic tallies of the ballots. There has never been a better time for Congress to pass this critically needed legislation. The voters and the public deserve no less.
